Business Competitor Keeps Filing False Police Reports on Me

[annasmall]

My question involves defamation in the state of: Florida
A former friend and business partner of mine stole the business from me (the auto repair shop license was in his name and we had nothing on paper) and has been harassing me ever since I opened a competing tire shop next door. He has called the sheriff's dept on me repeatedly, with the worse case alleging that I stole inventory from his business (this is after we broke up) but the sherriff's deputy did nothing more than question me informally at my place of work. Recently, one of his customers left his shop and came to mine for tires since my tires are half the cost of his. He immediately called the sheriff and they came right over to investigate. I asked the deputy if there was anything wrong with having customers choose where they wish to do business and he said no, obviously. I have been looking into getting a civil harassment restraining order against him but wonder if there are other legal means to make him leave me and my family alone. He is from a middle Eastern country and has called the sheriff so many times I can't believe they have not told him to stop wasting their time. Do I just put up with his crap or can I have legal means against him?

[Mr. Knowitall]

Have you tried going to the Sheriff's Department and talking to somebody there about the issue? One would hope they can keep track of reports that are unfounded, such that they are aware that this person is becoming a problem, but I don't know how good their records-keeping system is. If the fundamental issue is that he's filing false police reports, the most obvious resolution would be for the Sheriff's Department to either caution him not to continue or (potentially) to seek charges against him.

Civil restraining orders are problematic, both because they can be expensive to obtain and because they can be tricky to enforce. Assuming you obtain an order it's very unlikely that the judge would say "You can't call the Sheriff's Department about [petitioner]", but absent that type of clarity you would be in the position of having to take him back to court to convince a judge that his call violated the more general terms of the order. If you're inclined to try to litigate, I suggest consulting a local lawyer about the likely costs, issues and strategy.